Hannah - 4 months old

My sweet little muchkin is already 4 months old!!  That's so hard to believe!  Her transition from 3 months to 4 months of age has been a huge transition - going from colicky to (literally) the happiest baby I know!  She's like a completely different baby from how she was before and from her older brother and sister.

Hannah is a very happy and content baby now.  She smiles so easily and her whole face lights up.  She still has her precious gummy smile, which I love!  She's also started making more noises this past month.  She's cooing more and we even heard a tiny little laugh from her just the other day. 

Just last week we transitioned her from sleeping in her swing (I know...bad, but when you have a colicky baby who cries nonstop, you'll do ANYTHING!) to sleeping in her crib.  I wasn't sure if she'd continue sleeping through the night since the swing would lull her back to sleep after she'd wake up, but she transitioned so easily and is still sleeping through the night.  Yay!

Even though she became a very happy baby, she really hated her car seat and would always cry...and cry...and cry while in the car.  So we still dealt with that this past month; however, right about the time she turned 4 months old, she started settling down in the car and now she does great. 

She's not reaching for objects yet, but it seems like she, at times, moves her hands in the direction of objects.  She's not grasping toys yet either - something she should be doing about now.  She hasn't started rolling either way and most of the time just lays flat on her back with her arms stretched out to her sides.  A few times I've seen her roll a little on her side, but just slightly.  So some things to watch for this next month. She definitely recognizes Drew and myself and knows our voices, which is always sweet to see her reaction!

She is definitely my little munchkin.  At her 4 month appt, her length was 23 3/4 inches (31st percentile), her weight was 12 lbs, 10 oz (28th percentile), and her head circumference is 15 inches (0.82 percentile).  She's so much smaller than my other two!  The doctor mentioned that we'll need to keep an eye on her head circumference.  She's not even in the 1st percentile, which is a little worrisome.  Her next appointment is at 6 months (on August 13th), so we'll just have to wait and see.  The doctor said one of the best (and only) ways to know if a child is developing appropriately is whether or not they hit their milestones.  She's hit a few of the 4 month milestones, but there are still quite a few she hasn't.  So we'll just keep an eye on that as well.

She really loves her pacifier!  It seems to soothe her quite a bit.

My sister introduced me to the little plush animal attached to it.  Her boys have a monkey and giraffe.  Hannah's is a cute little cow.

And just for comparison purposes, here are Jenna and Grant at 4 months of age:

Looking back at pictures, I can't believe how quickly Jenna flew through her milestones.  That seems to be indicative of her personality and size in general.  She's so large for her age now.  At her 4 year check up (back in January), she was in the 99.99th percentile for height.  I'm not a math person, but Drew explained to me that that means out of 10,000 girls her age, she's the TALLEST.  Un-be-liev-able!!!  At four months of age, she was rolling over, sitting up with help, and pushing up with her hands while on her tummy.  So crazy!

Jenna's stats at 4 months - Height: 26 inches; Weight: 16 lbs, 5 oz (Unfortunately, I didn't write down what percentiles those are in.)

Grant continued to be my little chunker and at 4 months of age weighed 20 lbs, 9 oz (off the charts) and was 26 1/2 inches tall (90th percentile).

Love my kids!  They're all so different!  :)

May Misc.

Here are some miscellaneous May pictures...

Jenna just LOVES her baby sister

First time I was able to get her to take a paci.  She SO needed it!!  It was very calming to her and helped with the colic.

Smiles

She fell asleep on the beach towel outside.  So sweet!

Mommy and her sweet baby

I just LOVE snuggles with her!

Hannah started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks of age and she would sleep around 12 hours each night.  So I started pumping to build up a supply, but that's also allowed Drew and the kids to experience feeding Hannah too.  I know it's special for Drew to have that bonding time with her as well.

This was the first time Hannah just fell asleep while playing on her playmat.  It was amazing and such a shock to us because neither Jenna nor Grant EVER did that. 

Smiling at one of her toys

I went in before bed to check on the kids, and this was how I found Grant.

Snack time in the backyard after some water fun

More sleeping snuggles!  We loved this because she NEVER would fall asleep in our arms those first 3 months - probably because of her colic.  It was so special now that she would do that - neither of us wanted to put her down or move out of the chair. 

Close-up of her sweet sleeping face

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Jenna colored a picture for the little girl we sponsor from Compassion International - Michel Tintaya.

Again, she just fell asleep while laying on her blanket.  I left the room and when I came back she was asleep.  I think Jenna was the one who wrapped the blanket around her.

Grant feeding Hannah

When "B" came to visit, she was so kind to watch Jenna and Grant so I could get some things done while Hannah napped.  This was one of the projects I've been wanting to do and was finally able to complete while she was here.  I cut out the kid's names and put them on the paper inside these tubs.  Then I organized any keepsakes from birth to now inside each box. 

Here's an inside view.  It's much better than just throwing all their keepsakes randomly into drawers like they were before.  :)

The kids love playing outside. 

This is the first summer Grant's really taken interest in the jungle gym and been able to climb it.  He LOVES it and does really well with it!

Jenna has taught herself to pump the swing all by herself and loves going out to swing.

We made some homemade ice-cream.  Both kids enjoyed using the mallet to crush the ice.

Another night when I checked on the kids, I found Jenna with her arms outstretched.  :)

More playtime on the blanket.  I haven't been so good at giving Hannah tummy time.  She absolutely hates it (as most babies do).

More smiles

I can tell already that these girls are going to be the best of friends!

Strawberry Picking

A little over a week ago we took the kids to pick strawberries.  We had to go over a few lessons first on which strawberries to pick, how to pick them, and about NOT stepping on them!  The last one was the toughest for the kids.  They weren't very aware of where they were stepping, so that one was repeated quite a few times. 

We got two buckets to fill and went to town.  To be completely honest, I didn't know how long the kids would last.  I figured they would get bored with it after just a few minutes and then Drew or I would have to keep them occupied while the other quickly picked the rest of the berries.  Thankfully though they both enjoyed it and stayed with it until the buckets were full! 

Pre-picking picture - and yes, I'm the mother that coordinates their outfits to match the red strawberries. 

On the hunt...

I think Grant might have tasted a few strawberries while out there.

I had Hannah in my front carrier and with it being a windy day, she wasn't too happy.  So I did more bouncing than picking.  :)

Jenna really did a great job picking good strawberries.

I was able to join in and pick a few myself.

Grant showing off his berry

All done!

Just look at all those beautiful strawberries!!

Great job, Grant!

We had SO MANY strawberries that we decided to share them with some other family members.  We kept one bucket for ourselves and the kids managed to devour them in ONE day!  They're animals when it comes to berries!!